Patch 3.3 goes live today! And this is a big one. If you can't wait for Blizzard to update the live patch section to get the patch info, you can always click on more below, check out our wiki page or look up Zarhym's post on the official forums!

Excited? Bummed at nerf? Drop us a comment below, or discuss it in our forums.

Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Halls

Looming over the stark wastes of Northrend, Icecrown Citadel awaits those who would see the Lich King and his Scourge brought low and the threat they pose wiped from the face of Azeroth. The heroes who venture within will face some of the greatest horrors yet seen. But before you burst into the front gate of the citadel, an alternate means of entry beckons. Journey through three separate wings of the new five-player dungeon, Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Halls, and follow Jaina Proudmoore or Sylvanas Windrunner into the Lich King's domain.

Icecrown Citadel: The Frozen Throne

All across Northrend, many battles have been fought against the vile Scourge. Countless lives have been lost since the Alliance and the Horde first reached these frozen wastes, but the champions of Azeroth continue to march forward -- and Icecrown Citadel, the cornerstone of the Scourge's power and the home base of the Lich King, is their final target. Tirion Fordring and the Argent Crusade have forged an accord with Darion Mograine and the Knights of the Ebon Blade to form the Ashen Verdict. This coalition's strongest combatants, along with the champions of the Alliance and the Horde, will lead the charge against the citadel. In the new Icecrown Citadel raid dungeon, Azeroth's mightiest will face terrifying challenges before ascending to the Frozen Throne, where the Lich King and his runeblade, Frostmourne, await to deliver the heroes to their deaths....

Cross-Realm Dungeon Finder

The Dungeon Finder is now available, providing players with quick and easy access to five-player parties. This feature connects all realms within a battlegroup using an advanced matchmaking system, making it easier for players of all levels to find a dungeon group. In addition, players can reap additional rewards through the Dungeon Finder by choosing the Random option, which is available to both pick-up and pre-formed groups. Check out the User Interface section for more details.

Getting Started and Quest Tracking

A number of changes have been made to World of Warcraft's introductory experience, including updated character and class information at the character-selection screen, more robust tooltips with images, improved health and mana regeneration at lower levels, and adjustments to various classes designed to make it easier for players to get started. In addition, all-new quest-tracking features have been added to assist players in finding objectives, including new interface functionality in the quest log, the map ("M" key), and the Objectives pane.

General

Icecrown Citadel

Three separate 5-player dungeons – The Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, and Halls of Reflection – containing all new challenges and missions of discovery, await players in normal and Heroic modes.

10- and 25-player challenges await players in Icecrown Citadel. Only when all challenges have been overcome in the raid dungeon can players unlock hard modes for individual bosses. For more information on how the Icecrown Citadel raid content will be made available, please visit our Dungeons & Raids forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=11126&sid=1

Character Creation: The descriptions for races, classes, and race/class combinations have been improved to provide new players with a better idea of the roles and advantages of each class and race.

Dazed: Creatures attacking a player from behind can no longer cause players level 1-5 to be dazed, and have a reduced chance to cause players level 6-10 to be dazed.

Knockbacks no longer dismount players. If on a flying mount, you will be knocked back a short distance before being able to resume flying.

The existing /welcome emote now greets/welcomes targets (character says “hello”), while the new /yw is for saying "you're welcome."

Many of the tail sweeps with knockback effects will no longer hit players’ pets.

Level 1 characters no longer start with food or water in their inventory.

Attack is now called Auto Attack. The tooltip has been changed to reflect that the player will continue automatically attacking a target.

Meeting Stones: To use any Meeting Stone, it is only required that the character’s minimum level be 15. There is no maximum character level requirement for any Meeting Stone.

Classes: General

Area-of-Effect Damage Caps: We’ve redesigned the way area damage is capped when hitting many targets. Instead of a hard cap on total damage done, the game now caps the total damage done at a value equal to the damage the spell would do if it hit 10 targets. In other words, if a spell does 1000 damage to each target, it would hit up to 10 targets for 1000 each, but with more than 10 targets, each target would take 1000 damage divided by the number of targets. 20 targets would be hit for 500 damage each in that example.

Attack: Level 1 druids, mages, priests, and warlocks will no longer start with the Attack button placed on their action bars by default.

Default Equipment: Starting weapons are now more uniform. Rogues now start with a pair of daggers equipped. All other classes except shamans start with a 2-handed weapon equipped and the required skill already known. Shamans start with a 1-handed weapon and a shield, as they benefit more from the shield than they would from a 2-handed weapon.

Glancing Blows: The mage, warlock, and priest classes no longer have an increased chance for their melee attacks to be glancing blows; and the damage penalty due to their glancing blows is the same as for other classes.

Health and Mana Regeneration: These regeneration rates have been increased by up to 200% for low level characters. As a player’s level increases, the regeneration rates gradually reduce, returning to normal rates at level 15.

Pet Resilience: All player pets now get 100% of their master’s resilience.

Spell Mana Costs: These costs have been reduced for almost all lower level spell ranks. In general, if a spell decreased in cost with a higher level rank in patch 3.2.0, that spell now has the decreased cost at all ranks. In addition, spells learned before level 20 with reduced cast times and/or durations have even further reduced mana costs, proportionate to their reduction in cast time or damage.

Taunt Diminishing Returns: We’ve revised the system for diminishing returns on Taunt so that creatures do not become immune to Taunt until after 5 Taunts have landed. The duration of the Taunt effect will be reduced by 35% instead of 50% for each taunt landed. In addition, most creatures in the world will not be affected by Taunt diminishing returns at all. Creatures will only have Taunt diminishing returns if they have been specifically flagged for that behavior based on the design of a given encounter.

Races: General

Orc and troll shamans now have their own unique totem art.

Racial Attribute Bonuses: These bonuses have been recalibrated to even out the amount of starting health on the various races. All races start with a standardized level of stamina, except for orcs, dwarves, and tauren who now start with 1 extra point of stamina. For each class, bonuses and penalties to all attributes have been adjusted so that each race has an equal attribute total.

Will of the Forsaken now shares a 45-second cooldown with similar effects, including the Medallion of the Horde, Titan-Forged runes, Insignia of the Horde, etc.

PvP

Arenas

All abilities that have base cooldowns of 10 minutes or longer cannot be used in Arenas, down from 15 minutes.

Battlegrounds

Battleground Experience: Battleground experience gained is now based on the level of the player gaining experience, rather than the highest possible player level in that Battleground.

All level 71-80 Battleground daily quests will now award 25 Arena points in addition to their current rewards.

Wintergrasp

You must now have the following ranks to build or pilot siege vehicles:

Rank 2: Build/pilot Catapults.

Rank 3: Build/pilot Demolishers.

Rank 3: Build/pilot Siege Engines.

Dungeons & Raids

Naxxramas

Players no longer need to kill the final bosses in all four wings of this dungeon in order to teleport to Sapphiron. Teleportation orbs have been added to allow players access back and forth from Sapphiron's lair.

Oculus

Azure Ring Guardians agro distance changed from 50 to 40 yards.

Many bosses and creatures have had their total health reduced.

Several bosses and creatures have had cooldowns on specific abilities increased, effect durations reduced, and damage on some of these abilities reduced.

Ring-Lord Conjurers and Sorceresses now hang out in packs of 4 instead of packs of 5.

Vehicle scaling on the drakes based on the rider’s item level has been increased to make them more powerful.

Death Knights

Army of the Dead: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Army Ghoul damage dropped by 50%. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Raise Ally: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Rune of the Stoneskin Gargoyle: There is now a 1-handed version of this rune in addition to the current 2-handed rune.

Rune Strike: Threat generated by this ability increased by approximately 17%.

Talents

Unholy

Night of the Dead: Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 45/90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players. In addition, this talent now reduces the cooldown of Army of the Dead by 2/4 minutes, down from 5/10 minutes.

Scourge Strike: Redesigned. The base ability now deals 50% weapon damage plus an additional amount as physical damage. However, for each disease the death knight has on the target, the target will take additional shadow damage equal to 25% of the physical damage done.

Unholy Blight: This talent now deals only 10% of Death Coil damage as a damage-over-time effect on the target.

Druids

Prowl: This ability no longer has multiple ranks and penalizes movement speed by 30%.

Rebirth: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 20 minutes down to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Rejuvenation: The base duration on all ranks of this spell is now 15 seconds.

Tranquility: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

Talents

Balance

Eclipse: This effect will not activate again within 15 seconds of either type of Eclipse effect firing, in addition to the existing 30-second cooldown for each type of Eclipse. In addition, Eclipse now grants a 40% critical strike chance to Starfire and 40% increased damage to Wrath, up from 30%.

Force of Nature: Health on the treants has been increased.

Feral Combat

Predatory Strikes: The Predatory Swiftness buff from this talent now has an 8-second duration.

Restoration

Gift of the Earthmother: Redesigned. This talent now increases spell haste by 2/4/6/8/10% and reduces the base global cooldown of Lifebloom by 2/4/6/8/10% instead of its previous effects.

Pets

Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Hunters

Call Stabled Pet: Cooldown reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Deterrence: Now also increases the chance for ranged attacks to miss the hunter by 100% while under its effect.

Misdirection: Redesigned. Instead of having finite charges, it now begins a 4-second timer when the hunter using Misdirection performs a threat-generating attack, during which all threat generated by the hunter goes to the friendly target. In addition, multiple hunters can now misdirect threat to the same friendly target simultaneously.

Talents

Beast Mastery

Intimidation: If the hunter’s pet is in melee range of its target, the stun from Intimidation will now be applied immediately instead of on the pet’s next swing or attack.

Pets

Avoidance: This talent has been replaced by Culling the Herd. Hunter pets now innately take 90% less damage from area-of-effect abilities like all other class pets. This does not apply to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Cower: Redesigned. This ability no longer affects threat, and instead reduces damage taken by the pet by 40% for 6 seconds with a 45-second cooldown. While cowering, the pet’s movement speed is 50% of normal speed. Cower now only has a single rank and is available at pet level 20.

Culling the Herd: This pet talent has replaced the Avoidance talent in the pet trees (Hunter pets now gain that benefit automatically without expenditure of talent points). Culling the Herd increases pet and hunter damage by 1/2/3% for 10 seconds each time the pet deals a critical strike with Claw, Bite, or Smack.

Demoralizing Screech: The attack power reduction from this ability has been increased by 40%, equaling the maximum possible attack power reduction from the abilities of other classes.

Improved Cower: Redesigned. This ability now reduces the movement penalty of Cower by 50%/100%.

Pet Leveling: Hunter pets now need only 5% of the experience a player needs to level, down from 10%.

Venom Web Spray: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards.

Web: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards.

Wolverine Bite: This talent is now enabled when the pet lands a critical strike rather than from the target dodging the pet’s attacks. In addition, this talent no longer has a prerequisite.

Mages

Talents

Arcane

Arcane Empowerment: This talent now also grants 1/2/3% increased damage done by the mage’s party or raid for 10 seconds after the mage gets a critical strike with Arcane Explosion, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Barrage, or Arcane Blast. This effect is exclusive with Ferocious Inspiration and Sanctified Retribution.

Fire

Blast Wave: The mana cost of this talent has been significantly reduced.

Burning Determination: The duration of interrupt immunity granted by this talent is now 20 seconds.

Dragon's Breath: The mana cost of this talent has been significantly reduced.

Firestarter: When this talent is triggered, it makes the next Flamestrike cost no mana in addition to being instant.

Improved Scorch: The debuff from this talent no longer stacks, and instead can apply the full effect from a single cast of Scorch.

Frost

Deep Freeze: This spell now deals a large amount of damage to targets permanently immune to stuns. In addition, when this ability deals damage it will no longer consume two charges of Fingers of Frost for those mages with the Shatter talent.

Fingers of Frost: This talent now triggers immediately on casting a spell rather than being delayed until the spell strikes the target.

Pets

Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Mirror Image: Health on the mirror images has been increased.

Water Elemental: Waterbolt mana cost reduced by 80%.

Paladins

Divine Intervention: This ability now also removes Exhaustion or Sated from a target if the recipient is out of combat when the effect ends. In addition, the cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Flash of Light: This spell no longer causes a heal-over-time effect unless the player has the Infusion of Light talent.

Lay on Hands: This ability will place Forbearance on the paladin if used on his or herself. It will not place Forbearance on others.

Talents

Holy

Aura Mastery: This effect of this talent has been reduced in duration to 6 seconds.

Infusion of Light: This talent now causes the paladin’s Flash of Light spells to heal the target for 50/100% of the Flash of Light healing amount over 12 seconds.

Protection

Divine Guardian: This talent no longer increases the amount of damage transferred to the paladin from Divine Sacrifice. Instead it causes all raid and party members to take 10/20% reduced damage while Divine Sacrifice is active. In addition, the duration has been changed to 6 seconds, however the effect does not terminate when Divine Sacrifice is removed before its full duration.

Divine Sacrifice: Redesigned. The effect of Divine Sacrifice is now party-only and the maximum damage which can be transferred is now limited to 40% of the paladin’s health multiplied by the number of party members. In addition, the bug which allowed Divine Sacrifice to sometimes persist despite reaching its maximum damage has been fixed. Divine Sacrifice will now cancel as soon as its maximum damage value is exceeded in all cases. Finally, Damage which reduces the paladin’s health below 20% now cancels the effect early.

Retribution

Repentance: This crowd control effect will no longer break early from the damage done by Righteous Vengeance.

Priests

Divine Hymn: The cooldown on this spell has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

Power Word: Shield: This spell can now be cast on non-raid/party friendly targets.

Talents

Shadow

Improved Devouring Plague: This spell now deals 10/20/30% of its total periodic effect instantly, up from 5/10/15%.

Mind Flay: The range of this ability has been increased to 30 yards, up from 20.

Shadowform: This talent also now causes Devouring Plague and Vampiric Touch to benefit from haste. Both the period length and the duration of these spells will be reduced by haste. In addition, the mana cost has been reduced from 32% to 13% of base mana.

Vampiric Embrace: This ability is now provides a 30-minute buff that cannot be dispelled, instead of a target debuff and only generates healing for single-target shadow damage spells.

Pet

Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pet takes from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Rogues

Deadly Poison: In addition to its existing effects, when a rogue applies Deadly Poison to a target which has already reached the maximum number of applications, this will also trigger the poison which the rogue is using on his or her other weapon.

Dual Wield: Rogues now know this ability upon logging into the game at level 1.

Stealth: This ability no longer has multiple ranks. While active, the single rank of this ability (available at level 1) allows rogues to move at 70% movement speed.

Murder: This talent now provides a flat damage increase of 2/4% against all targets, instead of only targets which do not appear in Icecrown.

Subtlety

Preparation: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

Filthy Tricks: The cooldown reduction this talent provides for Preparation has been reduced to 1.5/3 minutes, down from 2.5/5 minutes.

Shamans

Earth Elemental Totem: The cooldown for this totem has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Fire Elemental Totem: The cooldown for this totem has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Fire Nova Totem: This totem has been replaced with a new spell, Fire Nova, which is available at the same ranks as the old Fire Nova Totem. Existing characters will automatically learn this new spell in place of the totem. With a Fire Totem active, shamans will be able to use Fire Nova (fire magic) to emit the same area-of-effect damage as the old Fire Nova Totem from the active Fire Totem, not consuming the totem in the process. Fire Nova will activate a 1.5-second global cooldown when used and has a 10-second spell cooldown. The caster must be within 30 yards of the totem to use this ability, but does not need to be within line of sight of the totem.

Reincarnation: The cooldown on this spell has been lowered from 60 minutes down to 30 minutes.

Improved Fire Nova Totem: Renamed Improved Fire Nova. This talent now provides an additional 10/20% damage to the spell and reduces the cooldown by 2/4 seconds.

Enhancement

Earth’s Grasp: This talent now also reduces the cooldown of the Stoneclaw and Earthbind totems by 15/30%.

Restoration

Improved Reincarnation: This talent now reduces the cooldown of Reincarnation by 7/15 minutes, down from 10/20 minutes. Reincarnation cannot be used in Arenas.

Warlocks

Create Soulstone: The cooldown on this spell and duration of its buff have been lowered from 30 minutes down to 15 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Talents

Affliction

Improved Drain Soul: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.

Improved Felhunter: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the felhunter’s Shadow Bite ability by 2/4 seconds.

Shadow Mastery: This talent now also increases the damage done by the felhunter’s Shadow Bite ability by 3/6/9/12/15%.

Demonology

Decimation: Redesigned. When Shadowbolt, Incinerate or Soul Fire hit a target that is at or below 35% health, the cast time of Soul Fire is reduced by 20/40% for 8 seconds. Soul Fires cast under the effect of Decimation cost no shards.

Demonic Pact: This talent now also increases the warlock's spell damage by 1/2/3/4/5%.

Molten Core: Redesigned. This talent now increases the duration of Immolate by 3/6/9 seconds and provides a 4/8/12% chance to gain the Molten Core effect when Corruption deals damage. The Molten Core effect empowers the next 3 Incinerate or Soul Fire spells cast within 15 seconds (Incinerate: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and reduces cast time by 10/20/30%; Soul Fire: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and increases critical strike chance by 5/10/15%). Molten Core now has a new spell effect.

Destruction

Conflagrate: Redesigned. This talent now consumes an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the enemy target to instantly deal damage equal to 9 seconds of Immolate or 8 seconds of Shadowflame, and causes additional damage over 3 seconds equal to 3 seconds of Immolate or 2 seconds of Shadowflame. In addition, the periodic damage of Conflagrate is capable of critically striking the afflicted target.

Destructive Reach: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.

Ruin: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of the imp’s Firebolt spell by 100%.

Pets

Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

Doomguard/Infernal: These pets now innately have Avoidance like all other warlock pets.

Inferno: The cooldown on this summoning spell has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Shadow Bite: This pet ability now does 15% increased damage for each of the warlock’s damage-over-time effects on the target.

Summon Imp: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn.

Warriors

Victory Rush: This ability is now trainable at level 6.

Talents

Protection

Damage Shield: This ability will no longer trigger any chance-on-hit effects from the warrior or the opponent it damages.

User Interface

Many of the default Interface Options settings have been changed for greater ease of use by new players. Existing players who create new characters may want to review the Interface Options in the event that the default settings feel different.

Quest Tracking Feature

Players can now track quest objectives on the map (‘M’ key).

Quest Log

A Show Map button has been added to the Quest Log. Selecting a quest and pressing this button will open the map for the zone in which the quest objective is located displaying the associated area of interest. Any other active quests in a player’s Quest Log for that zone will also be displayed.

Map

The map interface has been separated into four separate panes: a map pane (left), a pane listing active quest names for the zone being viewed (right), a pane listing the full quest text for any highlighted quest (bottom left), and a pane listing the quest rewards for any highlighted quest (bottom right).

All active quests listed in the right pane for the zone being viewed on the map will be assigned a number. These numbers will be displayed on the map according to the areas of interest for each quest.

Highlighting a quest name in the right pane will highlight the corresponding area of interest on the map in the left pane, show its quest text in the lower left pane, and list the quest rewards in the lower right pane.

Given that some quest objectives can be achieved in multiple locations within a given zone, highlighting such a quest will highlight an area of interest closest in proximity to the character’s current location.

This feature can be disabled by un-checking the Show Quest Objectives box in the bottom right corner of the new map interface, restoring the map to its standard full-screen display.

Clicking on the arrow in the top right corner of the new map interface will hide all but the map pane, bringing the map out of full-screen mode and allowing players to leave it open while navigating a zone or engaging in combat.

Objectives Tracking

This frame has been improved to offer new functionality and can be used with the new shrunken map option.

The Objectives frame is now docked below the mini-map next to the right 2 action bars and will track up to 10 quests for a zone.

Numbers have been added next to each quest name and objective corresponding with those areas of interest displayed on the map.

If a quest objective has been completed, the number will be replaced with a yellow question mark symbol.

The arrow button in the top right corner of the Objectives frame can be used to toggle between minimizing and maximizing the quest objective display.

Quest Difficulty Tracking

This feature is off by default and can be enabled in the Objectives window from the Interface Options menu. Turning this feature on will color-code all quest names displayed in the map interface according to difficulty (grey, green, yellow, orange, and red).

Dungeon Finder

This feature has replaced the Looking For Group tool and provides all-new dungeon party creation functionality.

Players can join as individuals, as a full group, or a partial group to look for additional party members.

Groups using this tool will be able to teleport directly to the selected instance. Upon leaving the instance, players will be returned to their original location. If any party member needs to temporarily leave the instance for reagents or repairs, they will have the option to teleport back to the instance.

Players can choose the Random Dungeon option.

The Heroic Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Frost no more than once a day.

The normal Wrath of the Lich King Daily Random Dungeon option will award two Emblems of Triumph no more than once a day.

Continuing to complete Wrath of the Lich King Heroic instances using the Daily Random Dungeon option will award players two additional Emblems of Triumph each time.

Daily Heroic and normal dungeon quests have been removed. These quests have been replaced with weekly raid quests (see the “Quests” section for details).

Level-appropriate rewards will be offered to players who choose the Random Dungeon option for pre-Wrath of the Lich King dungeons.

Players can be placed in a group for a random dungeon no more than once every 15 minutes.

Random Dungeon rewards will be placed in each player’s inventory automatically upon completion of the dungeon (final boss killed). A pop-up notification will display any rewards earned through the Dungeon Finder.

Instead of choosing a random dungeon, players can also choose specific dungeons appropriate for their level range. Multiple instances can be selected at one time. The feature no longer limits the choice to look for only 3 dungeon groups at one time.

Pick-Up Groups

Cross-realm instances are now available and use an improved matchmaking system to assist players in looking for additional party members. As with Battlegrounds, the realms in each Battlegroup are connected.

As part of the matchmaking system, some of the more difficult dungeons will have a minimum gear requirement. Players also need to meet the requirements for dungeons that require attunement, such as keys or quests. If a player does not meet the requirements for a particular dungeon, a lock icon will be displayed next to that dungeon. Hovering over this icon will display the requirements which have not been met.

Only conjured items and loot dropped in a dungeon for which other party members are eligible can be traded between players from different realms.

A Vote Kick feature will be available in the event a member of a party is not performing to the expectations of the other members.

Players who leave the group prematurely are subject to a Deserter debuff preventing them from using the Dungeon Finder for 15 minutes.

If an existing group loses a member, the leader will be asked if he or she wants to continue the dungeon. Choosing to continue will automatically place the group back into the Dungeon Finder queue.

A Player will not be placed in a group with people on his or her Ignore list.

Players who take part in groups who have one or more members who have been matched with them randomly from within the Dungeon Finder will receive extra rewards, up to and including the coveted Perky Pug non-combat pet. The more random players with whom one groups, the faster the pet can be obtained.

The Need Before Greed loot system will be the unalterable default looting system for pick-up groups in the Dungeon Finder and has been updated.[ul]

Need Before Greed will now recognize gear appropriate for a class in three ways: the class must be able to equip the item, pure melee will be unable to roll on spell power items, and classes are limited to their dominant armor type (ex. paladins for plate). All items will still be available via Greed rolls as well as the new Disenchant option should no member be able to use the item.

Players will be able to roll on items with a required minimum level higher than a player’s current level.

User Interface

Looking For Raid

There is a new Looking For Raid option available to players that can be accessed via the Raid Information screen in the interface or by typing “/LFR.”

Players will be able to browse the system manually for any other players looking for a raid dungeon group.

While browsing LFR players may sort the list ascending or descending by left-clicking the following headers: Name, Level, Class, Tank Role, Healer Role, and Damage Role. The crown is the Leader Role (representing a raid group with 2 or more people). Players can left-click on this header to sort the list with groups at the top or at the bottom.

Hovering over players listed in LFR will display their name, class, level, roles and comments. Hovering over a raid/group will display the leader’s name, the raid information (number of people in the raid), comments, if there are any bosses dead (and which ones), and if there are any friends from your Friends list or ignored players from your Ignore list in the raid group.

The Looking For Group chat channel has returned and can be accessed in all major cities (similar to the Trade chat channel) without the use of the Dungeon Finder interface.

Players may only be queued or listed in one of the following systems at a time: Dungeons, LFR, Battlegrounds, or Arenas.

Ignore List: The amount of characters a person can ignore has been increased to 50. In addition, players on other realms can be placed on the Ignore list.

Buffs and Debuffs: This is a new section added to Interface Options.

New option - Castable Debuffs: Enabling this will cause only debuffs you have cast on an enemy target to appear.

New option - Consolidate Buffs: Enabling this adds a buff consolidation box near the mini-map. Very short term buffs (e.g. Replenishment) and very long term buffs (e.g. Prayer of Fortitude) are filtered into the buff box. The icons are stacked here, but they can still be seen by moving the mouse cursor over the buff box. Long term buffs will move out of the box when they are about to expire. Buffs such as important procs (e.g. Art of War, Maelstrom Weapon), cooldowns (e.g. Bloodlust / Heroism, Combustion) or limited in range (e.g. totems and paladin auras) are always displayed.

Tutorial System: The tutorial pop-ups are now larger, contain images, and better try to direct players to the relevant locations or user interface elements on the screen. In addition, several new tips have been added, while some existing tips will now appear at more appropriate times for new players.

Dungeon & Raid Difficulty Display: A group’s dungeon or raid difficulty setting will now be displayed via an icon off of the mini-map.

Group Disenchanting Option: In addition to rolling Need or Greed on items, players now have the option to elect for an item to be disenchanted if an enchanter of the appropriate skill level is in the group. Disenchant works exactly like Greed except if a player wins the Greed roll, they will receive the disenchanted materials instead. Players who choose Need will always win the item and will always beat those that choose Greed or Disenchant.

Lag Reports: Players can now report high latency or lag by accessing the Help Request menu.

Unit Nameplates

The range at which players can see unit nameplates has been increased by 40 yards.

Unit nameplates are now subject to line-of-sight limitations in certain situations (this does not pertain to objects like Arena pillars or bridges).

New macro conditionals: “vehicleui” (if the player has a vehicle UI) and “unithasvehicleui” (if the target of the macro has a vehicle UI).

Addon Author Changes

“registerForClicks” added to xml buttons.

“MouseIsOver” has been converted to a “C” function for increased efficiency (e.g. /dump PlayerFrame:IsMouseOver() ).

When an addon file is loaded, the addon name and an addon table are passed to the file through ‘…’. The same addon table is passed to every file loaded by a particular TOC file (example at the top of a Lua file: “local addonName, addonTable = …;”.

“motionScriptsWhileDisabled” attribute added to buttons. This allows “OnEnter”; and “OnLeave”; to fire while the button is disabled.

“GetFileHeight()” and “GetFileWidth()” added to Texture objects. 0 is returned if no texture file is associated with the texture.

You can now query for a list of completed quests with “QueryQuestsCompleted()” then wait for the “QUEST_QUERY_COMPLETE” event, and call “GetQuestsCompleted()”.

A new feature has been added to the D3D graphics engine to improve texture management (particularly for Windows XP users). If you are experiencing random crashes related to file read errors or out of memory, this new backend may help. To enable the new backend, add the following line to your Config.WTF file: SET gxApi "d3d9ex". For more information please visit our Technical Support forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=11110&sid=1

Professions

Enchanting

Enchant Weapon - Black Magic: This enchantment now sometimes increases haste rating for the caster rather than inflicting the caster’s target with a damage-over-time effect. It is also now triggered by landing any harmful spell rather than inflicting damage with a spell. Enchant Weapon - Unholy: This enchantment now inflicts Shadow damage in addition to its original effect.

First Aid

The training costs for most bandages have been reduced.

Fishing

The all-new Kalu’ak Fishing Derby, a test of fishing skill with a healthy dash of luck, has come to Northrend! Every Saturday beginning at 2 PM players can try to catch the elusive Blacktip Shark. Elder Clearwater sits in Dalaran for one hour awaiting the return of the quickest, most experienced fisher to bring him this shark. This champion fisher will be rewarded in-kind for returning with the first catch. Those who aren’t able to return with the first catch will still receive just reward for getting the Blacktip Shark to Elder Clearwater before he takes his leave. It is said that these sharks’ favorite meal are the bite-sized Pygmy Suckerfish. Perhaps a hook in their waters will do the trick.

Mining

Enchanted Thorium: This ability now uses the Mining skill and is learned from trainers at a skill level of 250.

Quests

Weekly raid quests are now available from Archmage Lan'dalock in Dalaran. Every Tuesday at 3 AM the Council of Six will choose a different strategic target that must die from either: The Obsidian Sanctum, Naxxramas, The Eye of Eternity, Ulduar, Trial of the Crusader, or Icecrown Citadel.

For the various Icecrown Bomber quests at Aldur'thar: The Desolation Gate, players can now choose to eject from their bomber seats mid-run. If you do so, a rescue vehicle will transport your character back to the safety of your infra-green platform.

Azure Drakes and Dragons will now attack back when attacked by characters not riding Wyrmrest Defenders.

The Achievements to get exalted with the Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Alterac Valley factions have been removed from their respective “Master of” Meta-Achievements. Special titles will be offered to those who reach exalted with these factions.

“The Party’s Over” has been removed from Achievements and is no longer a part of the “Glory of the Hero” Meta-Achievement.

“Master Angler of Stranglethorn” has been changed to “Master Angler of Azeroth” and can be achieved by winning either the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby or the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza.

Reputation

Commendation Badges which award reputation with various Wrath of the Lich King factions can be purchased with Emblems of Triumph in Dalaran. Each badge costs 1 Emblem of Triumph.

Gaining reputation with the Ashen Verdict in Icecrown Citadel will grant players access to upgradeable rings from Ormus the Penitent. Players can switch between the type of ring (melee/caster/tank/healer) at any point in the upgrade path for 200g.

The following reputations have been sped up by roughly 30%:

Argent Crusade

Alliance Vanguard

Horde Expedition

Kirin Tor

Knights of the Ebon Blade

Sons of Hodir

Wyrmrest Accord

Sons of Hodir quests now give more reputation overall.

Top-level helm and shoulder faction-related enchants are now available as Bind-on-Account items that do not require any faction to use once purchased (they still require the appropriate faction level to purchase).

Items

Arena Set Bonuses: The two-piece set bonus for all Wrath of the Lich King Arena sets now provides 100 resilience and 29 spell power or 50 attack power. The current four-piece bonus will remain, however it also now provides 88 spell power or 150 attack power.

Bind-on-Account Items: Players can now mail Bind-on-Account items to characters on the same account and realm regardless of faction. Please note this only applies to Bind-on-Account items. Other items or gold cannot be sent via mail to characters on the same realm and account if they are from differing factions.

Death Knight Tier-9 4-Piece Bonus (Damage-Dealing): This set bonus no longer grants Frost Fever a chance to be a critical strike. It still grants that possibility to Blood Plague.

Glyph of Rapid Rejuvenation: This glyph allows for the druid’s haste to reduce the time between the periodic healing effects of Rejuvenation.

Mages

Glyph of Improved Scorch: Renamed Glyph of Scorch. This glyph now increases the damage of Scorch by 20%.

Glyph of Eternal Water: This glyph allows for a summoned Water Elemental to last indefinitely, but it can no longer cast Freeze.

Priests

Glyph of Mind Flay: This glyph now increases the damage done by Mind Flay by 10% when the target is afflicted with Shadow Word: Pain.

Glyph of Shadow Word: Pain: The periodic damage ticks of Shadow Word: Pain now restore 1% of the priest’s base mana with this glyph.

Glyph of Shadow: While in Shadowform, this glyph causes non-periodic spell critical strikes to increase spell power by 30%, up from 10%, of the priest’s total spirit for 10 seconds.

Shamans

Glyph of Fire Nova Totem: Renamed Glyph of Fire Nova. This glyph now reduces the cooldown of Fire Nova by 3 seconds.

Warlocks

Glyph of Life Tap: The effect of this glyph now has a chance of activating when Dark Pact is used.

Glyph of Quick Decay: This glyph allows for the warlock’s haste to reduce the time between periodic damage effects of Corruption.

Warriors

Glyph of Victory Rush: This glyph now increases the critical strike chance of Victory Rush by 30%, regardless of the percentage of the target’s remaining health.

Haris Pilton now sells a new 24-slot bag! She has stubbornly decided to remain in Shattrath City, so those interested should seek her out there.

Icecrown Citadel Items: Normal and Heroic versions of Icecrown Citadel rings and trinkets are considered Unique-Equipped and cannot be used at the same time.

Hatchlings: Leaping, Darting, Razormaw, and Ravasaur Hatchlings no longer drop from their associated rare creatures. Instead, there are now rare nests that spawn which contain these hatchlings. For example, the Leaping Hatchling can now be found in Takk’s Nest rather than as a drop from Takk the Leaper.

Sceptor of Celebras: Since this item is no longer needed as a key, Celebras will no longer give one out to a player who loses it. The item can now be sold or disenchanted as normal.

Shaman Tier-9 4-Piece Set Bonus (Elemental): This set bonus now does an additional 10% of Lava Burst’s initial damage over time instead of increasing the size of the Lava Burst.

Bug Fixes

Items

Ancient Pickled Egg: This item can no longer be triggered by Life Tap.

Costumes: Various costumes from holidays, items, and quests that previously were cancelled by getting on a mount will now cause an error message when the player attempts to mount instead of cancelling the costume.

Carapace of the Old God: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.

Crystalforged Trinket: Can now be refunded at its vendor.

Dragonslayer Set: No longer displays a duration on the Nature’s Ally buff.

Drums of the Forgotten Kings: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations.

Drums of the Wild: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations.

Eating and Drinking: Eating and drinking are now cancelled and prevented while in a vehicle as a passenger.

Giantstalker Set: No longer displays a duration on the Nature’s Ally buff.Glyph of Immolation Trap: Now properly increases damage by 100%.

Gul’dan’s Regalia Set: Tooltip corrected to indicate increased damage for all pet attacks, not just abilities.

Husk of the Old God: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.

Idol of Flaring Growth: Now has a detailed combat log tooltip.

Idol of Lunar Fury: Now has a detailed Combat log tooltip.

Idol of The Corruptor: Now has a detailed Combat log tooltip.

Insignia of the Alliance: Item level changed to 60.

Insignia of the Horde: Item level changed to 60.

Level 58 PvP Items: A variety of PvP items with a minimum level of 58 were not being translated properly when a player used the Paid Faction Change service. That has been corrected. Paladin- and shaman-specific items still will not be translated, as there is no opposite version to translate them into.

Nightsong Regalia Set: The bonus to Rejuvenation from this set will now work properly with the Idol of Rejuvenation equipped. In addition, the instant heal provided now has a correct combat log tooltip.

Noggenfogger Elixir: Players shrunk while under the effects of this item will now be able to mount.

Quel’dorei Channeling Rod: Spelling error corrected.

Quel’dorei Sash: Spelling error corrected.

Quel’dorei Guard: Spelling error corrected.

Qiraji Bindings of Command: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.

Qiraji Bindings of Dominance: Now tradable using the Bind-on-Pickup trade system.

Reclaimed Shadowstrike: No longer has a cooldown to create Reclaimed Thunderstrike.

Reinforced Shadowstrike: No longer has a cooldown to create Reinforced Thunderstrike.

Reins of the Swift Frostsaber: The mount learned from this item no longer triggers a global cooldown.

Runescroll of Fortitude: The buff from this item will no longer be cancelled when the player who used the item swaps talent specializations.

Windrunner Set: The set bonus which grants Greatness to the hunter’s pet will no longer spuriously show the hunter also gaining that buff.

Worldbreaker Garb Set: The Electrified effect caused by this set now has detailed combat log tooltips.

Racial Abilities

Arcane Torrent: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs. In addition, this ability will now be properly noted and displayed as an interrupt in the cast bar UI.

Every Man for Himself: Disconnecting while rooted will no longer sometimes trigger this ability.

Classes

Death Knights

Bloody Strikes: Now properly increases the damage displayed in the tooltips of Blood Strike and Heart Strike.

Bone Shield: Tooltip corrected to indicate the player has the correct number of bones.

Chains of Ice: This ability will no longer appear to land on targets which are immune.

Desecration: The debuff from this ability will no longer sometimes appear as if it were cast by someone else. In addition, the visual and snare from this ability will now both dissipate at the same time. Further, this talent will now respect snare immunities, and no longer sometimes snare immune targets.

Frost Presence: The animation for activating this presence will no longer also have the animation for Blood Presence played at the same time.

Glyph of Bone Shield: Now updates the number of charges in the Bone Shield tooltip.

Glyph of Dark Death: Now updates the tooltip on Death Coil. In addition, its own tooltip has been clarified to indicate it also applies to healing from Death Coil.

Glyph of Death’s Embrace: Now updates the tooltip on Death Coil to indicate runic power is refunded.

Glyph of Heart Strike: Now updates the tooltip on Heart Strike to indicate Heart Strike applies a movement snare.

Glyph of Icebound Fortitude: Now updates the tooltip on Icebound Fortitude to show increased damage reduction.

Glyph of Plague Strike: Now updates the damage shown in Plague Strike’s tooltip.

Glyph of Unbreakable Armor: Now updates the tooltip on Unbreakable Armor. Tooltip on glyph modified to make its effect more clear as well.

Master of Ghouls: Tooltip typo corrected.

Night of the Dead: Tooltip typo corrected.

Obliterate: This ability will no longer sometimes fail to do additional damage based on diseases on the target.

Raise Ally: While this spell is active on a target, they will not be sent to the graveyard, prematurely ending the spell.

Raise Dead: It is no longer possible under some circumstances to use a Risen Ghoul to cause neutral guards to attack opposite faction players.

Strangulate: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.

Unholy Presence: The animation for activating this presence will no longer also have the animation for Blood Presence played at the same time.

Druids

Glyph of Hurricane: Now modifies the spell tooltip on Hurricane to indicate the spell also applies a movement slowing effect.

Hurricane: When cast from Bear Form, Cat Form, or Dire Bear Form, this spell will now channel properly instead of stopping the channel as soon as the shapeshift is cancelled.

Infected Wounds: This ability is no longer considered to be in the magical defense category; therefore spell hit no longer applies to its activation. Tooltip error corrected.

Nature's Grace: The tooltip now correctly indicates that it will not be activated from periodic spell critical strikes.

Swipe (Bear): Tooltip corrected to display 8 yard range.

Rejuvenation: Druids will no longer get a more powerful spell error message when attempting to overwrite a Rejuvenation they cast.

Hunters

Concussive Barrage: This ability is no longer subject to spell reflects.

Explosive Trap: The damage from this trap will now scale properly with the hunter’s attack power.

Glyph of Immolation Trap: Now properly increases damage by 100%. In addition, this glyph will now modify the tooltip of Immolation Trap correctly.

Glyph of Mending: This glyph will now modify the amount healed in the tooltip on Mend Pet.

Point of No Escape: It is no longer possible to gain benefit from this talent multiple times by having a target affected by multiple of the same hunter’s traps. In addition, Freezing Arrow will no longer incorrectly provide a critical strike bonus to players beyond the hunter with this talent.

Roar of Sacrifice: Corrected tooltip error.

Silencing Shot: Updated tooltip to include the functionality that this ability also interrupts spellcasting on NPCs.

Volley: The tooltip for this ability will now update properly from haste.

Mages

Arcane Concentration: The interaction of this talent with Arcane Missiles has been restructured. Instead of an Arcane Missiles cast triggering the talent, each missile has an independent (but reduced) chance to trigger this talent. In addition, the talent will no longer sometimes be triggered from misses by Arcane Missiles, Arcane Blast, and Blizzard.

Blast Wave: Tooltip typo corrected.

Blizzard: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage. Also fixed a bug where some trinkets were not triggered by this spell.

Cone of Cold: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.

Dalaran Intellect: Mages will now be properly blocked from casting this spell when the target has a more powerful version of the buff.

Deep Freeze: This spell will no longer consume two charges of Fingers of Frost when it misses its target.

Flame Strike: Some ranks of this spell had an incorrect cast time of 3 seconds. All ranks now share a 2-second cast time.

Frost Nova: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.

Frostbolt: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.

Glyph of Mirror Image: Now updates the tooltip on Mirror Image to show 4 images are summoned.

Ignite: Now correctly benefits from the dispel resistance granted by the Arcane Subtlety talent. In addition, this talent will now properly include in its damage calculation any damage of the initial fire critical strike that was absorbed.

Ice Lance: The tooltip on this ability will now update properly from all talents which increase its damage by a percentage.

Improved Scorch: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.

Mirror Image: The mirror images summoned will no longer sometimes appear as shades before taking on the appearance of the casting mage.

Prismatic Cloak: Rank three of this talent will now properly modify the tooltip on Invisibility to indicate the effect is instant.

Slow Fall: This spell can now activate trinkets that can trigger from casting a helpful spell.

Winter’;s Chill: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.

Paladins

Aura Mastery: The animation for this ability will no longer be extra bright when used with Concentration Aura active.

Beacon of Light: The effect of this ability will no longer sometimes continue past the duration of its buff. In addition, the duration when used with the Glyph of Beacon of light will now correctly be 1.5 minutes. Finally, the tooltip was corrected to indicate benefitting targets must be in the paladin’s party or raid.

Blessing of Kings: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell.

Blessing of Sacrifice: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.

Blessing of Sanctuary: It is no longer possible to have multiple buff icons from this spell. In addition, the tooltip has been corrected to include 10% increased strength.

Devotion Aura: When in a party with another paladin using a different rank of this ability, it is no longer possible to see two different Devotion Aura icons displayed as buffs.

Divine Sacrifice: This ability now properly counts all damage transferred against

Comments

The post from Zarhym and the list here is the only place I've seen the notes include the part about sending Bind-on-Account items to opposite factions on the same server. I couldn't find that in the patch notes when I installed the patch or on the patch notes on the official site. Not sure why that and a couple of things are different but I had been looking forward to that feature and I really hope it's not just listed by mistake.

Guys, don't worry, this isn't a normal procedure for WoW to be going through. Normal for big patches and new expansions, yes, but not for everyday playing and routine Tuesday morning maintenance. Blizz just takes a little extra time to fix bugs and make sure everything is running smoothly when they put out big patches such as today's with a new raid, new dungeons, and a lot of general interface changes. Yes, they are annoying and take time, but big patches and expansions don't come out too often, so to say that you will be experiencing today's events would be a lie. Just sit tight and thing should calm down a lot by tomorrow, my gf is on right now and isn't running into any problems with the new dungeons or lag, so that's a good sign :)

i love this game, i just wish i could play it. just got turned off trial, purchased it and signed up for 6 mo . . . since that fateful decision i have spent more than 6 hours trying to connect . . either last night or this afternoon after the new update is installed. is this the normal operating procedures? if it is, i am gone. really would rather play the game than have to spend so much time getting this program to recognize the server i have already set up characters on. Dragonmaw is my server, is it totally toast?

i love this game, i just wish i could play it. just got turned off trial, purchased it and signed up for 6 mo . . . since that fateful decision i have spent more than 6 hours trying to connect . . either last night or this afternoon after the new update is installed. is this the normal operating procedures? if it is, i am gone. really would rather play the game than have to spend so much time getting this program to recognize the server i have already set up characters on. Dragonmaw is my server, is it totally toast?

Downtime like this is generally the exception, not the rule. Blizzard is currently implementing a major patch to the servers that adds a ton of new content. You will rarely have to deal with days like this. Smaller patches and regular maintenance generally gets completed fairly seamlessly and on a regular schedule.

Eclipse: This effect will not activate again within 15 seconds of either type of Eclipse effect firing, in addition to the existing 30-second cooldown for each type of Eclipse. In addition, Eclipse now grants a 40% critical strike chance to Starfire and 40% increased damage to Wrath, up from 30%.

This wasn't in the PTR notes when I checked this morning.... is this a good or a bad thing? I don't get the 15-second effect... doesn't eclipse last around 15 seconds when activated anyway? Or is it 15 seconds after it ends that it will activate again?

If it's the latter then eclipse just got nerfed, but if not then.... did anything really change? (other than the increase in power of course.)